Lover's Dance
by Schizzar
Summary: "Rose Tyler," he murmured against her forehead. "There is plenty to be afraid of out there in the world. But know I will protect you."


**Uncensored version is on my A03 account, same username as usual, and honestly, even the uncensored version isn't that sexual, but there are some character development bits that you might like. I've also got another Doctor Who fanfic on that account that's a bit more sexually explicit. Enjoy this one though. I don't own Doctor Who. **

"It's beautiful."

"It is, isn't it?"

The Doctor leaned back on his elbows, legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle. He wasn't wearing his leather jacket, having given it to Rose an hour ago when she had commented on the cold. She tugged it tighter around her shoulders.

"A blue sun," she said quietly. "Blue grass. Blue leaves. It's all so pretty. Where'd you say this was again?"

"No idea."

Rose laughed and looked down at him. "Really?"

"Not a clue," he said with a wide, though close-lipped smile. "It's as new to me as it is to you. I'm glad you like it though."

She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them close before resting her cheek on them, still looking at her Doctor. "How much else is out there you think? Stuff you don't know I mean."

"Oh lots," the Doctor said, smile not faltering for even a moment. "Lots and lots of beautiful, wonderful things out there for me to discover."

"And terrible." Rose wasn't sure what possessed her to say it, and a pang of guilt overcame her as soon as the words popped out. "Look at me. Beautiful sunset on a beautiful unknown planet and I go and spoil everything."

"You haven't," the Doctor said, pushing himself up so he was sitting as well. "What makes you say that though?"

"You know what I mean," she said. She looked away, rocking a bit where she sat. "Things like those Daleks. Sure there's beautiful things, and I love them, but there's terrible awful things too. I mean...it doesn't bug me so much I don't know why I thought of it."

For a few moments, the Doctor looked at her. She could feel the weight of his gaze and after a while turned to look at him. There was an unreadable gaze in his eyes and he drew her forward to press a kiss to her forehead.

"Rose Tyler," he murmured against her forehead. "There is plenty to be afraid of out there in the world. But know I will protect you." He pulled away, hand cradling her jaw. "Whatever it is, I'll find a way to protect you always."

She managed a smile for him, though she wasn't sure how convincing it was. He sighed and pressed their foreheads together again, eyes closing. They stayed that way for a long while before returning back to the TARDIS. Neither of them spoke the next morning of how she climbed into his bed that night and wrapped herself in his warmth.

"You're my Doctor aren't you? My protector?" she asked into the darkness.

His arm tightened around her. "Of course I am."

-.-

"Rose, I need you to breath."

"Almost lost you. Almost lost me. I can't breath, Doctor?"

"Rose you're having a panic attack, I need you to breath with me okay?"

His longer fingers stroked over her face, his face, not her old doctor, the new one, was blurred by her tears, but she tried to focus on his eyes. Eyes that despite the change in the rest of him hadn't changed. Would never change. Old. Timeless. And alive. He was alive, not in some pit on some impossible planet falling into a black hole.

Sobs heaved out of her chest, broken and gasping as she clutched at him. He held her tight, rocked her back and forth there on the floor of the TARDIS, hands stroking her hair. The actions were soothing, steadying. There was a rhythm to them, and soon she had gone limp in his grasp, exhausted and covered in tears and sweat, but she didn't care about any of that. All she cared about was the man who's lap she sat in, who's neck she had her face pressed against.

"Doctor?" Her hands curled in the fabric of his bright orange space suit.

"Yes Rose?"

"What was it? Down there?" Somehow, she managed to press even closer to him, clinging. "I need to know."

He was silent for a long time, arms warm and tight around her. Like the warmth of a leather jacket she had worn so long ago on an unknown planet.

"I don't know, Rose. But I kept my promise. Sort of. You saved yourself after all."

"Couldn't've done it without you though," Rose said. "Everything you taught me. It made me braver. And I'd thought I'd lost you so I...I didn't have anything to lose."

She knew on some level she did; her mother, Mickey. But as awful as it was, they paled in comparison to the fact that she had been billions of years in the future with the one man she trusted before anyone else.

"You had lots to lose Rose Tyler."

"No. I didn't." Rose pulled away, wiping at her tear stained face as she looked at him. "I really didn't, Doctor. Without you, I had no way to get home. No one to live for or protect, no one who cared about me as much as I cared about them. I had to keep fighting, I had to hold on to the hope that you were still alive because if I accepted that you were really gone I'd stop fighting. Don't you get how important to me you are?"

"Of course I do!" The Doctor's eyes were wild as he stared at her, wild and pained as he reached forward to grab her shoulders. "And that's what scares me, Rose. You care so much, and after today I don't...I don't know if I _can_ protect you. There are things out there that I can't explain and you're right. They're terrible. Terrible and awful and cruel because they can separate us and I know rationally that it will happen eventually but I want to keep you as long as I can. But I'm scared that they'll take you away before I'm ready."

"Well I've proven myself quite a bit today then haven't I?" Rose grabbed his hands off of her shoulders, holding them tight. "Because I'm not gonna stop fighting even if they do separate us, whether they ends up being some alien or god or time itself. Even if I've got nothing to live for, even if you're gone I won't stop fighting because I've got to believe in you."

"We can't beat everything Rose."

"We beat that thing down there! And that was the closest thing to the devil we've ever seen, right? If we can beat that and find each other, then we can do anything," Rose said. "Please Doctor. Please don't try to logic that away from me. Don't destroy that hope."

The Doctor closed his eyes, bowing his head. "I'm sorry."

Rose stared at him a moment longer before throwing her arms around him. "Please. Please don't leave me alone tonight..."

"I won't," he said, wrapping his arms tight around her.

His grip was warm and comforting, and even though she had spoken of hope, the fear still made her blood feel like ice and her stomach like lead. She wasn't sure how long they stayed, there on the floor of the TARDIS, clinging to each other as if they had no other lifeline. His fingers trailed through her hair, soft strokes that lulled her, calmed her. After a while, she slid one of her hands up to tangle in the hairs at the back of his neck, tucking herself in closer and sighing into his neck as she did so.

"We should get you to bed," the Doctor said.

"I'm afraid to sleep," Rose said.

"I'm here," he said, pulling back enough to look down at her. "I'll always be here."

In the darkness of her room, Rose felt even colder. Even with the Doctor wrapped around her, his long limbs carelessly tangled with hers, as if he had forgotten of any reason to possibly keep any distance, she couldn't shake the feeling. Or the Beast's words.

_You will die in battle. _

"Doctor?" Her voice was quiet, barely audible even in the silence of the room.

"Yes Rose?"

"I don't...want to die," she said, breath catching. She buried her face in his neck. "That thing said I'll die in battle and I...he was telling the truth about the others, about you, he has to be right, doesn't he?"

The Doctor was silent for a long while, instead drawing her close and pressing his lips to her forehead. "I don't know Rose. I'm sorry. But you have to know I'll do everything in my power to protect you. I..."

Rose stiffened and pulled back, even though she couldn't see him in the dark. "What Doctor? You what?"

"I love you Rose Tyler. And that means I'll protect you."

Rose slid her hands up into his hair and pulled him down for a kiss, the words chasing away the cold and filling her with brilliant warmth instead. It wasn't like with Jimmy, him just saying it to get her to shut up and stop complaining. No. Her Doctor _loved_ her, had admitted what they'd been dancing around for so long.

His hands slid through the masses of her thick gold hair, tangling in the roots and tugging her closer. The smallest bit of pain brought her surging back into her body so hard she went breathless for several seconds, lips trembling against the Doctor's. His grip slackened immediately and he ran his hands down to map over her face, long fingers chasing her sharp cheekbones.

"Rose, my dear Rose, are you okay?"

His words were whispered out against her lips and she felt a few tears mark their way down her cheeks and slipping between their lips.

"Just overwhelmed I guess? I was feeling a bit...off," Rose said. A small smile tugged at her lips. "Better now though."

He smiled back and gave her another gentle kiss before flailing one of his hands back and turning on the lamp. It helped to see him in front of her, his flushed cheeks and tousled, messy hair, and his eyes. His expressive eyes that erased any doubt that the words he had spoken could've been anything else but true.

"You'll stay tonight?"

"If you'll have me," he said.

Rose pressed her lips hard to his. "Of course I will."

-.-

Rose watched, leaning against her Doctor, as the TARDIS fade away for what she knew what would be the final time. She could hear the single heartbeat with her ear pressed to his chest, and after a tense moment, she turned to face him straight on, hands framing his jaw.

"Let's just get what thing straight, right here, right now," she said.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I love you," she said. "And I will always love you."

"Is this the adrenaline talking again?" he asked.

"You mean the adrenaline that makes me say what I'm really thinking and do what I want to do most even when the scared part of me says I shouldn't?" Rose asked. She gave an uneasy smile. "Yeah. Yeah it is. You're really my Doctor aren't you?"

"Of course I am."

Rose kissed him hard and then grabbed his hand, so full of joy and happiness she felt as though she were about to burst. She didn't need to say anything more, and neither did he. They had all the rest of their lives together after all.


End file.
